Atlanta

Chapter 2

I held my breath, who was this mysterious person that had decided to invade the driveway of our house? The light from the living room teared through to the doorway and lit up the unperceived human. It was a female. Rivulets of rain rushed down her bronze complexioned face, and absorbed into the rough material of her cloak. Her dark eyes instantly met mine, they dazzled in the dearth of light. Her rouge lips curved into a thin smile while her long brunette hair waved about in the breeze wind. The rain continued to patter down on drenching everything, there was a strange silence while I waited for her to say something about why she was here, once it became clear that she was going to say noting, I decided to introduce myself.

"Hey, um.. My name is K-" I began but she cut me off.

"Kian Band, yes I know." Her voice was quiet, and calm. How did she know my name? She had only just met me.

"How did you know my name? I didn't tell you."

"I know a lot about you, Kian..."

"How? I mean I've never met you before or anything."

She smiled at me, and winked. I stood there bewildered by what she had just said for a moment, then snapped back to attention. I noticed her reach down into one of her massive pockets in her cloak, Intrigued by what she was doing, I watched as she produced a piece of crumpled paper. I peered over the top of the paper to see what it was, It looked like a letter, I attempted to read the joined inky writing, by squinting hard and managed to read 'Dear Atlanta, This is a very important letter. It is very personal too, I have chosen you becau-'' She spotted my conspicuous spying and snatched the letter away from my sight, she then hid it back inside the large droopy pocket. Atlanta? Was that her name?

"Atlanta? Is that what you're called?" I asked

"Yes, That's my name. You know Kian, you are a very naughty boy. You shouldn't read other peoples private letters!"

"Oh my, I'm sorry I didn't mean too!" I apologized quickly, the bitter expression she had on her face made me feel out of place, a slight scared sensation flowed through my body. Something told me I didn't want to get on the wrong side of this seemingly nice girl. I began to feel curious to find out more about Atlanta, it felt like there was more to her than meets the eye, and what did the letter mean? Maybe she wasn't just randomly here at my house, maybe there is a reason.

The rain was still heaving it down, drenching both of us. My pull over shirt was completely drenched, and the wool had absorbed the rain, causing it to weigh the shirt down over my freezing body, I couln't even imagine how heavy the cloak must have felt on Atlanta, I decided I should probably invite her in to dry off, and warm up.

"It's nice to meet you Atlanta, but it's raining awfully out here. You must be soaking, and probably chilly too, why don't you come in?" I asked stepping out of the way so she could come inside, however she didn't budge. She just stood motionless, eventually after some awkward silence she finally shook her head.

"No, Kian! I know this is gonna sound weird, But we've got to leave now, you've got to come with me." She explained, now she sounded worried, and I was even more worried, what was she talking about? 

"What on earth? No.. I've got to stay here and finish my revision, plus my parents will wonder where I'm gone,"

"Forget about all that, You need to come!"

"No I don't! I'm not going anywhere with a stranger!"

"Oh really? Yet you were going to invite a 'stranger' into your house?"

"Well.. kind of.. not really, I mean.."

"Kian, stop with the nonsense, I'm not messing around or joking! You really must come with me, Okay?"

"B-B-But, what about my parents? for how long will this be? Answer my questions!"

For the first time, Atlanta began to show a tiny bit of emotion, a frown of concern spread across her face.

"I don't know...I just don't know, and listen I'm sorry I truly am, If only you knew..but your life isn't as it seems, 'There's a whirlpool of unanswered questions' and you're going to find out what they are."

What Atlanta had just said felt deep, and it hit me pretty hard. Was this just a wind up, or was she for real? I thought to myself  'She better be damn serious about this, what on earth does she mean, why can't she just tell me?!' There was only one way to find out, and even though my brain was reluctant my heart was all for it. Atlanta held out her gloved hand towards me, I stared at it and took a deep breath. I was ready for this. I gradually slipped my hand into hers. 

With my free hand I reached onto the coat rail and grabbed my fuzzy school coat. then I stepped out of the way of the door, and closed it gently, carefully so I didn't alert anyone inside. Atlanta tugged my hand to indicate it was time to leave then she freed her hand from mine and let it drop. She walked down the pathway towards the open gate, carefully dodging the murky brown puddles of icy cool rain. Once she reached the gate she undone it and turned on her heel, so she was facing the house. Taking one more breath I threw my coat over my shoulders and jogged to the gate, Atlanta gave me that strange thin smile again, except this time of acknowledgement, I nodded my head at her in return and we began to walk along the path, I had no clue where we were going, But It looked like it could be a long, long time. I followed Atlanta without a word being said, keeping my cool on the outside, but inside there was a whole party of confusion. There were so many questions I wanted answered.